A Satyr Against Hypocrites

"A Satyr Against Hypocrites" by John Phillips is a spirited poem from the 1600s that uses humor to point out the flaws in religious practices of the time. The poem focuses on the gap between how religious people acted in public and their true, often less holy, actions in private. Phillips creates a lively church scene filled with different characters like showy women, selfish church members, and overly proud religious leaders, showing how their actions often went against what they preached. Through funny and sometimes exaggerated stories, the poem explores how people pretended to be religious, acted foolishly out of extreme enthusiasm, and behaved badly in ways that went against their supposed beliefs, criticizing both religious dishonesty and the wider problems of society during that time.